BCCI turns to Shashank Manohar to resolve India Premier League issue

BCCI President Shashank Manohar arrives for the cricket governing body's Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday

The Indian cricket board, seemingly getting worried as Sahara India continues to stick to its charter of demands pertaining to the Pune franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has apparently requested former BCCI president Shashank Manohar to mediate.

Manohar, who was succeeded by N Srinivasan in September, along with current Board treasurer Ajay Shirke and a few other officials, were seen coming out of Sahara Star hotel, owned by Sahara chief Subrata Roy, on Tuesday evening.

The presence of Manohar, who carries an
impeccably clean reputation and during whose tenure Sahara and Kochi
franchises were added to the IPL fold in 2010, fuelled speculation that
Srinivasan might have requested him to help resolve the contentious
issues.

Srinivasan, however, denied having any
knowledge of Manohar being requested to mediate in the impasse involving
Sahara and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over a host
of issues pertaining to the IPL Pune Warriors franchise.

'We were actually summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) following a notice from the government agency.

He finished with that and went away. He had nothing to do with it [Sahara imbroglio],' Srinivasan told MAIL TODAY.

According to Board sources, ED had also summoned Srinivasan, former treasurer MP Pandove and BCCI chief administrative office Ratnakar Shetty to its office regarding the contentious investments in the IPL that took place a few years ago, during the tenure of Lalit Modi, who was the then chairman of the IPL governing council.

They said that back channel dialogue between the two sons of Roy and BCCI officials continued on Tuesday and that some ray of hope might emerge in the next couple of days.

When told that Manohar was seen visiting Sahara Star, Srinivasan said:

'I don't know. I was at the BCCI headquarters [at the Wankhede Stadium] from 12 noon to 7 pm and even my car was parked at the Board office.

Sahara Group Chairman Subrata Roy at a news conference in Mumbai earlier this month

I had so many other BCCI jobs to do.' Asked about the chance of the Sahara- BCCI issues being resolved, Srinivasan didn't commit anything.

'I have said what I had to in Chennai [after the BCCI's working committee meeting at which almost all the Sahara demands were rejected].

There's a lot of privacy involved in this issue,' he said.

The main demand of Sahara, which bought the Pune franchise for over RS1,700 crore, is for an additional foreign player in the playing XI and permission to use $1.8 million, with which it bought Yuvraj Singh, to buy another player after the lefthanded all-rounder was ruled out from the 2012 IPL due to cancer.

After the BCCI rejected these and some other demands, Subrata Roy on February 4 announced that he was snapping Sahara's 11-year relationship as team sponsor because the BCCI was not listening to his grouses.